May 17, 2011

An impact crater forms when an asteroid or comet strikes another body such as an asteroid, planet, or moon at high speed. As Earth is so active geologically, most traces of impact craters have been erased by erosion and tectonic activity. Nevertheless, over one hundred seventy impact craters have been identified on Earth.

Here are some of the biggest Meteorite craters found on earth. I hope you will like it.

Barringer Crater, Arizona, US

Some 49,000 years ago a large nickel-iron meteorite 150 ft across, weighing several hundred thousand tons and traveling at a speed of 40,000 miles per hour, hit Earth. The result of this meteor is 55 km crater called the Barringer Crater. It’s the best preserved impact crater ever.

Bosumtwi, Ghana

The impact of a meteorite some 1.3 million years ago opened up hole in the ground with a 6 mile diameter.

Deep Bay, Canada

Deep Bay is a strikingly circular, very deep and unusually irregular and shallow lake. The 8 mile wide crater is a complex impact structure with a low, totally submerged central uplift, formed about 100 million years ago.

Aorounga impact crater, Chad

Aorounga is an eroded meteorite impact crater that formed 2-300 million years ago in an area of the Sahara Desert, northern Chad, in Africa, when a comet or asteroid with a 1 mile diameter hit the crust of Earth.

Gosses Bluff, Australia

Approximately 142 million years ago, a large asteroid or comet (22 km in diameter) crashed at 40 km/sec and released massive energy equivalent to 22 000 megaton’s of TNT.

Mistastin Lake, Canada

The Mistastin crater is the result of a meteorite crash that caused a 17.4 miles wide giant hole into the ground, 38 million years ago. It is located in Labrador, Canada.

Clearwater lakes, Canada

Two circular lakes/impact craters on the Canadian Shield in Quebec formed simultaneously by the impact of an asteroid pair which crashed on Earth approximately 290 million years ago.

Kara-Kul, Tajikistan

This crater is situated in Tajikistan. It has formed a lake. The lake is actually located within a 28 mile wide circular depression, which was hit by a meteorite approximately 5 million years ago.

Manicouagan, Canada

This crater is located in central Quebec, Canada. Some 212 million years ago, a 3 mile wide asteroid hit the earth, to causing a 62 mile wide giant hole.

Chicxulub, Mexico

This ancient impact crater is huge at 105 miles in diameter. The impact happened roughly 65 million years ago when a comet or asteroid the size of a small city crashed on Earth.